Belgian Family Renews Call to Honor Victims of 2002 Racist Murder in Schaerbeek

It has been 19 years since Hendrik Vyt, a sympathizer of the Vlaams Blok, had shot his Moroccan neighbors, at 12 Rue Vanderlinden. The Isnasni family had been the victim of a racist murder on May 7, 2002. The killer had shot dead Habiba El Hajji, 45, and Ahmed Isnasni, 47. The couple’s children, Walid and Yassine, had been spared thanks to their neighbor Gérard Buyck. This racist crime had caused consternation in Belgium. In 2020, Kenza Isnasni, the eldest daughter of the murdered couple, created an association in memory of her parents. The citizen association Habiba Ahmed Foundation (HAF) fights against racism. Its patron is Princess Esméralda of Belgium, and its sponsors are the Franco-Rwandan singer-songwriter, rapper and writer Gaël Faye and the author and director Dorcy Rugamba.

On Friday, a sad commemoration of the 2002 tragedy, Kenza Isnasni once again pleaded for a street to be renamed after the victims. "The inauguration of a Rue Habiba-Ahmed would represent a strong message. For memory, naming a street is to recognize in a pragmatic and symbolic way the richness of a society, its contribution, its evolution, its history crossing the perspectives of the past and the present," she said. In 2018, she had asked the municipality of Schaerbeek that a portion of the street of the tragedy be named Rue Habiba-Ahmed. "In the meantime, there was the pandemic, but we hope to resume the discussions," said Kenza Isnasni.

May 7, 2021 was also devoted to the launch of the HAF association’s website and a call for a "Duty of Memory Against Racism," reports Belga. "We call on all citizens to join it and sign it. [...] This initiative calling for vigilance and recognition aspires to be unifying," explained Kenza Isnasni.